The present invention relates to sawing machines, and, more particularly, to machines for sawing large baked waffle sheets into individual size servings.
The invention related most particularly to a sandwich product known as waffle cremes. This product is conventionally manufactured by baking large waffle sheets, coating such sheets with a layer of icing, adding a second sheet to form a sandwich sheet of about 11 by 18 inches, and sawing the sandwich sheets into stick-like pieces.
The large sandwich sheets are conventionally cut into pieces by first passing them through a set of circular saws to produce strips. The strips are transferred to a second set of circular saws which divide the strips into individual pieces. The stick-like pieces are then manually assembled into package-sized groups with considerable labor expense.
The individual waffle sheets are baked in large waffle iron devices from a liquid batter which is deposited onto one plate of the open iron by a series of nozzles. The edge of each waffle sheet is frequently uneven and, therefore, each set of saws includes end saws for trimming the edges of the sheets. When variations occur in the amount or consistancy of the batter delivered, the irregularity of the edge can extend into the edge rows of the product pieces. This requires that these edge rows of product be discarded. The prior art cutting system typically generated scrap at an average rate of about 20% (including the saw kerf material) of the total sheet.
The circular saw blades used in the prior art cutting system typically produced a kerf of 0.045 to 0.055 inch. The 11.times.18 inch sandwich sheet is typically divided during the first cut by 19 cut lines into 18 product strips and two trim strips. The total kerf width on the first cut therefore is between 0.855 and 1.045 inches. It was recognized that a significant reduction in kerf width would permit closer spacing of the saw blades, resulting in an increase in the width of the trim strips. With wider trim stipis, fewer edge irregularities would intrude into the product pieces and scrap would be reduced.
It was also desired to reduce handling of the product pieces by stacking several waffle sandwich sheets so that fractional portions of the cut stack would comprise the desired package-size groups. This would aggravate the waste problem of the prior art cutting system because it would require that the diameter of the saw blades be increased, which would increase their flexibility. The more flexible blades would vibrate from side-to-side, producing a wider kerf and requiring that the saw spacing be increased to maintain the piece size. Reducing the flexibility of the blade by increasing its thickness produces the same result.